Tale as Old as Time
by Hakurei Ryuu
Summary: random songfic i did a while back that turned out to be pretty cute. Inuyasha and Kagome watch a movie together, and Inuyasha ponders his feelings for her.


**Oh, don't give me that look. Everyone compares these two stories. Mine just takes the shortcut. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Tale as Old as Time:

It had been nearly four days now, and Inuyasha was getting impatient. He was itching to get back on the road again, and after much debating with himself, he passed through the well to fetch Kagome.

Once on the other side, Inuyasha heaved a quiet sigh if relief. It was good to smell her scent again, and it was everywhere in the old well-house. For a moment, he jsut sat there on the edge of the well, taking it all in. Finally, he bounded out the well-house door and across the lawn to Kagome's house.

She wasn't in her room, where her scent was the strongest, so he followed it downstairs and found her in a room off the kitchen, doing simething with a large black box. Just being in her presence calmed him, and he spoke in a voice much less gruff than usual. "What'cha doing?" he asked. She jumped at the sound of his voice, and it made him sad that he had scared her. Still, curiosity got the better of him, all thoughts of The Quest forgotten--for the time being.

"I was just gonna watch a movie," she said. It was a children's movie, really, but she wanted something modern fresh in her mind before she went back to the Sengoku Jidai. She was a child born of modern comforts, and after a while, they became a necessity. "Do..." she began hesitatingly, "D'you want to watch it with me?" Seeing Inuyasha's 'look,' she added, "It's just like when Kaede tells a story to the village children, only there are moving pictures to go with it."

Again, curiosity got the better of the hanyou. "Alright," he said. Then, to keep up his image, he added, "But we gotta go right after." Kagome smiled and didn't say anything. Inuyasha never could tell what she was thinking, but he was glad she wasn't mad at him.

It was indeed a child's tale. Some human Lord put under a spell to make him into a demon, and he had to find his true love to break the spell. Personally, Inuyasha didn't see what the guy's problem was. He was a hell of a lot stronger as a demon, as proven when he saved that girl from a bunch of feral wolves. Inuyasha got a little annoyed at that scene. If it had been him there, the wolves would never have gotten within a mile of the girl.

There was a lot of singing too. People--and objects--were always bursting out into song, in a seemingly random fashion. It baffled the hanyou that singing everywhere would be taken as the norm, but Kagome said it was just for effect. Some songs were just sequences of thought, or ways to speed the story along. After a while, Inuyasha started to really enjoy it.

But there was one song that stayed in his mind for the rest of the movie.

_Tale as old as time  
__True as it can be  
__Barely even friends  
__Then somebody bends  
__Unexpectedly_

This song took place when the prince was dancing with the girl. It was pretty obvious they were in love, though he was fairly sure that they would be the last ones to figure it out.

Somehow, Inuyasha's thoughts turned to Kagome. Ironic how he had despised her in the begining. Now he couldn't live without her.

_Just a little change  
__Small to say the least_

Not so much a small change as a series of adaptations, he thought. He had to stay with her, because he needed her to find the jewel. He needed her eyes, so he protected her. It was just a necessity. He never thought she might be grateful for it.

Soon, he started needing her in a very different way...

_Both a little scared  
__Neither one prepared  
__Beauty and the Beast_

He shook his head slightly. She knew it, too. She knew how he felt. Much as he hated it, _everyone_ knew. Miroku could tell in an instant--he never touched Kagome after that first incident. Sango figured it out eventually. Kaede seemed to _expect_ it, the stupid old hag. Even Shippo could tell.

It was only him who couldn't figure it out. He was always the last to know.

But, right at that time, it didn't bother him that much. At least he knew she was as new at this as he was.

_Ever just the same  
__Ever a surprise_

Kagome was steady, reliable, and yet completely unpredictable. She was a gentle breeze, a caressing wave, the sunshine on your face... and every one of those things could turn deadly at a moment's notice.

_Ever as before  
__Ever just as sure  
__As the sun will rise_

Before he met her... he shook his head. He couldn't even remember how he was then, it seemed so far away. She was healing everything about him. Even Kikyo didn't give him the kind of trust he saw in her eyes.

And no matter what he did, she always came back.

_Tale as old as time  
__Tune as old as song  
__Bittersweet and strange  
__Finding you can change  
__Learning you were wrong_

Kagome was the first person who ever made him feel guilty. The first person he ever apologized to. The first person he felt _deserved_ an appology. She just had that effect on him. He couldn't say no to her. It was a feeling that had nothing to do with the beads around his neck.

Again, an irony. Those beads had saved his live more than a few times. Yes, they were annoying, but they connected him to Kagome, and he would endure a thousand sits for her.

...if he deserved it.

_Certain as the sun  
__Rising in the east  
__Tale as old as time  
__Song as old as rhyme  
__Beauty and the Beast_

He didn't deserve a girl like her. But she chose to stay with him. After all he put her through, she chose to stay. She could have anyone she wanted. She could have Koga--though he didn't deserve her either. She could have that stupid Hobo guy. But she chose him.

_Tale as old as time  
__Song as old as rhyme  
__Beauty and the Beast_

He sat there thinking as Kagome took the tape out of the TV. "'Tale as old as time,' huh?" he said quietly.

She sat back down on the couch. "Yeah," she said, "that means that the same story's been happening to different people since the begining of time. Two unlikely people meet and fall in love in a way that was never expected."

"But under any other conditions," said Inuyasha, "they wouldn't have met at all."

"That's what's so great about it," Kagome said bouncily. "Two people who would never have spoken to each other or even met. That's what makes it a great story. It's like it was destiny."

Inuyasha thought about that. If Kikyo hadn't shot him all those years ago, he never would have given Kagome a second thought. She might not have even existed, if Kikyo never died.

He took Kagome's hand, but gently. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. She looked a little surprised at his sudden show of consideration, but Inuyasha had suddenly realized something:

_I know a good thing when I have one,_ he thought,_ and I will never let it go._

Fin

**Originally I was gonna have this end with a kiss, but this is how it came out. To be perfectly honest, I kind of like it better this way. What do you think?**


End file.
